Stronger As One

As We Bond

I kept running, my legs burned and my chest hurt. What about mommy? I stopped and turned around, the once dark forest was now illuminated by the bright flames of a fire. Panic set in further and I started running back toward my mother. I closed my eyes as I ran, straining to try and shift to my wolf. I still struggled with shifting on occasion but this time I needed it to work. I imagined my wolf, his fur a pure white with not a hint of any other color. His lean body standing tall, blue eyes shining bright. 

I felt the familiar pain of the change and was soon running on all fours. My mothers scent was strong.. I could smell blood. 

I kept my ears forward listening for any sound of the other wolves, but all I heard was the crackling of the fire that was slowly spreading through the trees. I saw the log we hid behind and climbed over it. 

My heart dropped. 

I looked on at the body of my mother, her soft white wolfs fur was tainted with the red of blood. Lacerations covered her still body. Tears filled my eyes as I ran forward, I nudged her head whimpering and crying out for a response.

I got nothing, and my wolf was silent.

I heard the sound of paws on earth and I could smell three other wolves. I tensed my body and growled out, warning them. 

The wolves slowly approached while the fire blazed behind them. Two had slight injuries and blood caked jaws, but the large dark grey one lacked both. The two flanking wolves growled at me, barring teeth and positioning to attack. The large one chuckled, his voice filling all of our minds.

Don't waste your time on this pathetic pup. He wont survive the night without his mother. He laughed.

I launched myself at him, biting onto the underside of his throat. He thrashed slightly and threw me to the ground. Pain erupted through my body and I yelped out in pain.

How cute. Trying to fight I see.. Was a good try though. Lets leave him. I have some morals.. The large grey wolf turned to leave, the two others snapped at me before following closely behind.

I cried out and whimpered. I was tired... I was in pain. 

I curled up next to the broken body of my mother, not even bothered by her blood that now stained my fur. 

Soft hands gently shook me away, I blinked away the sleep from my eyes and looked into the eyes of the Luna. She wore a soft smile and gently spoke " Welcome back. Lets get you inside and taken care of." I carefully slid off the back of Jason " How are you feeling? Any new side effects from the bite?"

I glanced down at the scaring mark on my wrist " Aside from occasional dizziness and feeling more tired than normal.. no." 

She led me back inside, I stole one more glance at Jason who stood as his wolf before closing the door.

" Take a seat at the counter, let me get you some water." 

I took a seat and watched her move about the kitchen, grabbing me a glass and some fruit to pick at. She sat down next to me, concern in her features. " Wanna talk about what happened? You ran off quite suddenly, did something happen?"

" I'm not ready to talk about this yet. I need time." I said honestly, my wolf silently agreed with me. We both weren't ready to discuss this.

She sighed and faced forward " You will need to talk about this soon. Tomorrow we will begin teaching you the ways of the pack, we will have you paired up with another member to help teach you. You have so much to learn young wolf.." She paused. I grabbed the apple on the plate and took a bite. " I should apologize to you.. one thing you will soon learn is that wolves can utilize different abilities. Based on your spirit, you will have a specific type of.. magic so to speak.. that will work for you. I use the power of aura, it lets me keep the pack calm during different times. These past few days I've been using it for you.. which wasn't the smartest idea considering it fades the further away you are and it seems to be a big reason why you ran off in the first place. So, I apologize for doing that to you. I just didn't want you hurting yourself or another." 

I could feel her honestly and sincerity. 

I feel we can trust her, she has been so helpful for us and treated us with such great kindness. My wolf was playing with her light grey wolf.

" I understand, and accept your apology. Thank you all you've done for us." I offered her a small smile. 

" Now, I suggest we all get some rest. The temperature is going to be dropping and we need the extra energy and you will be getting a tour of the territory! Your permanent room will be ready soon, for now keep using the guest bedroom with the red door" 

I nodded my head before pushing off the counter and heading toward the room. I held onto my bag tightly, slightly nervous of loosing it. The weight of the picture was taxing on my soul. 

I sighed in relief with being in my own space. I dumped the content of my bag on the bed.. clothes.. toiletries.. the photo.. a couple books. 

I'm proud of you for how you're handling things.. and I understand why you ran. Away from the calming Aura helped me see your true feelings more clearly. I hope we can learn to trust these wolves. My wolf was lying down in the depths of my mind, resting his head on this paws while he spoke. We must learn what we can about these wolves and ourselves.. it seems we have so much that we don't know.

I agree. I look forward to seeing their territory, and I'm fairly interested in what magic I could posses.

My wolf sat up I hope its not the aura, I'm feeling more spell types things.. 

Both our excitements rose at the prospect of what we could be capable of. 

That would be pretty cool! I'd love to have something that's more useful than for fighting.. tomorrow we will find out.. hopefully. Lets rest up, its been a very odd few days.

My wolf barked an agreement and curled back up again, letting out a small yarn before resting his eyes. I quickly packed away my clothes in the small closet and pulled back the covers. I slide into bed and relished in the warmth it offered. The weather was changing, and the temperature dropping. My body wasn't ready for the change and the cold greatly affected me, but now being under these blankets, I embraced the warmth and curled up like my wolf. 

I have always felt alone since she was killed, my father became a stranger and I didn't make friends. But now with our bond growing, I'm glad I'm going through this with my wolf, my mother told me stories of how only strong wolves possess the ability to speak and see their other form, to have them always in their mind. I never understood why I had one, and my mother didn't know either. But she always told me I would amount to great things and to keep my wolf close.. for he will never betray me. I see now what she meant.

We may disagree but we are a team. I'm ready to learn and grow with him at my side.

Goodnight wolf. I said softy as I let my eyes drift shut.

Sleep well young one. He responded.